It was all going to work. If any radar sets had still been tracking the drone, he knew that by this stage and this close to Washington the UAV should have been intercepted and brought down. But it hadn’t been, which meant that the EMP weapons must have done their work and taken out the radars and probably the fighters as well.
Suddenly Sadir switched his attention from the controls in front of him to the house itself. He had heard something, a scratching sound and a faint muffled thump, like a large object falling a short distance onto a wooden floor. The failure of the rear surveillance camera on the house suddenly took on a new and sinister significance. Perhaps that hadn’t just been some kind of random electrical fault in the camera or cabling. And maybe the man at the front door wasn’t a salesman.
It might be nothing, or it might mean that somebody had finally put the pieces together.
Sadir smiled.
Whatever had caused the sounds he’d heard, it didn’t matter. He had never expected to walk away from this operation, but he was determined to see it through to the end. He turned back to the controls and altered the autopilot setting as a precaution, specifying a new final altitude for the descent of ground level and opening the throttle of the Reaper’s engine, hiking its speed to 200 miles per hour. He also slightly altered the heading to aim the drone directly at the White House.
He picked up his Glock pistol, took the magazine out of the butt and inserted a full one. Then he turned round to stare at the door of the room, which was where he was sure the danger lay. If there really was a threat, if he wasn’t just hearing the normal, innocent sounds of the house.
He took a final glance over his shoulder at the instrumentation and control panel, checking that the UAV was still on course, then picked up his pistol and aimed it at the door, ready for whatever or whoever came through it.